By Cassidy Spencer   Kent Cooley is a lifelong resident of South Dakota, with a diverse background spanning soil science, environmental management, and agronomy. He obtained his bachelor's degree in Soil Science and Environmental Management, followed by a master's degree in agronomy with a focus on soils, from South Dakota State University.   He started his career with the Soil Conservation Service, mapping soils in the Northeast of South Dakota. He continued mapping soils in various counties and is now the area resource soil scientist in Rapid City. Through his experience and familiarity with South Dakota soils, Cooley has witnessed the unfolding salinity crisis firsthand.   “ We actually tried to figure out how many acres of saline soils were in the state back in the mid-2000s. We calculated about seven and a half million acres of saline soils,” said Cooley. “We've added almost another million more acres of saline soils in the state the last 10 to 15 years, and that's primarily due to management.”     Understanding Salinity   Excessive soil salinity occurs through the accumulation of salts, primarily in the upper layers of the soil profile, including the root zone and up to the surface. In extreme cases, salts may evaporate as they move up the soil profile leaving a visible white crust on the soil surface, which is the final degradation state of saline soils.   Several factors contribute to this issue, the two bedrock conditions being salt-rich parent material and an arid or semi-arid environment. Under these conditions, water will tend to move upwards in the soils due to the arid climate and the lack of deep-rooted vegetation to infiltrate or pull water further down into the soil profile. Due to the history of the land, South Dakotan soil makeup can be more prone to saline issues.   “About a hundred million years to 66 million years ago, this area was underwater. There was a great inland sea that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico all the way up to the Arctic Ocean,” explained Cooley. “It divided North America into two landmasses. Well of course, that water was salty, it was an ocean. And when that inland sea retreated, those salts were left behind in the sediments. That’s the source of most of our salts: most of South Dakota was underwater, except for the far eastern part of the state.”     Managing Salinity   Addressing soil salinity requires a multifaceted approach, focusing on prevention, management, and remediation. Cooley emphasizes the importance of diverse crop rotations and the integration of multi-species plant roots to utilize moisture more effectively and keep salts at bay. A stratified root system, mimicking that of native rangelands, draws moisture from various soil depths, reducing the upward movement of salts.   Saline issues can be exacerbated by tillage, which disrupts the soil structure and minimizes pore space, encouraging upward movement of water in the soil through capillary action. No-till practices allow larger, granular “cottage cheese” soil structure to form in the soil, allowing for small, medium, and large pore spaces which subsequently allow gravity to take water deeper into the soil profile. Salt-rich parent material and arid environments, when combined with poor land management techniques, can lead to these saline seeps—excessive upward movement of salt-rich water and the eventual development of a white crust on the soil, alongside severely degraded soils without necessary structure to effectively utilize water.   “When you look at the soil forming processes, natural pore space is built within the soil and those pores connect the deeper parts of the soil profile up to the surface. Now, if we have an area where we don’t have a lot of vegetation or that vegetation is shallow rooted, that allows the soil moisture that’s in that soil profile to move upward through evapotranspiration and capillary rise, which is basically water movement up those pore spaces when we have a dry period,” explained Cooley. “But if we’re using the water through the plants, the transpiration aspect keeps those salts deeper in the soil profile. That’s the biggest thing when we’re looking at salinity on our soils, we want to eliminate the evaporation off the soil surface and lose our water through transpiration, through the plants. That helps keep the salts down lower in that soil profile.”   Another effective strategy in the fight against salinity is the adoption of perennial systems. Perennials, with their deep and extensive root systems, offer continuous soil cover and utilize soil moisture throughout the year. This consistent use of water helps to maintain the salts within the deeper layers of the soil, preventing their accumulation at the surface. Perennial systems not only mitigate salinity but also provide other environmental benefits, such as reducing erosion, enhancing biodiversity, and improving carbon sequestration.   “When we harvest crops in our tillage systems or cropping systems, and we have a period of probably two months, up to four months, depending on whether it’s a small grain or a row crop, where we’re not utilizing soil moisture at all—that can actually build water tables that could potentially cause problems down the road,” explained Cooley.       Managing the Recharge Area   A critical aspect of salinity management is focusing on the recharge area, the upslope region that contributes to the water and salt flow towards the affected areas. Effective management of this zone can significantly reduce the volume of water moving downslope, thereby preventing the accumulation of salts in the lower lying areas.   “What actually starts becoming saline is downslope from those areas, either in a saline seep, which is typically on a side slope, or lower parts of the side slope, which actually can move up the slope if you don’t take care of the problem,” said Cooley. “We want to utilize that soil moisture in the uplands before it can ever get down to those lower areas if it’s moving laterally in that soil profile. You utilize it up there, then you’re way better off. And when you look at those saline areas across the state, it doesn’t matter if it’s a seep or if it’s a low-lying area where we’re starting to build salts on the soil surface—those are much smaller areas as compared to the recharge area.”   Cooley again praises the implementation of multi-species root systems being kept in soil year-round to begin to mitigate this issue.    “ Once again, probably the most effective way to manage salt affected areas that I know is to put perennial systems in place in the uplands and the recharge area, while adding more salt tolerant species,” said Cooley. “ When you look at trying to remediate the actual salt area, I've heard a lot of people want to use tile drainage, an interceptor drain to cut off the water with interceptor tile. But then you have the problem of where are you going to route that tiled drainage system, where's that salty water going to go? Is it going to stay on your place? Is it going to affect a neighbor and so forth on downstream? That's not a good scenario.”     Salinity and Sodicity   Salinity issues in soil are not to be confused with sodicity issues. As Cooley explains, the two issues are dealing with entirely different soil chemistry—salinity refer to an excess in calcium and magnesium salts in the soil profile. Sodicity refers to high sodium content in soils, which cause clay particles within the soil profile to disperse, developing a claypan. The claypan—a compact, dense layer of clay formed in the subsoil—is highly restrictive to root development and more difficult to remediate than saline seeps.   “When we're dealing with more of a sodic soil which can have an appearance of being saline, that soil test alone will actually tell us if there is a high sodium content in that soil, especially the upper part of that soil profile,” explained Cooley. “When that occurs, basically we're looking at either a sodium absorption ratio of 15 or greater, or an exchangeable sodium percentage of 13 or greater.”   It is much easier to alleviate a salinity problem than a sodicity problem. Once you have a sodic soil that has formed a claypan, necessary pore space in soil has been restricted and water cannot effectively travel or absorb in the soils.     Staying Aware of Irrigation   Cooley added, it is important to stay aware of the quality of water being utilized for irrigation, as well as the irrigation system and its compatibility with your soil makeup. If irrigation water is high in salts or sodium, there is the potential to imbalance chemical makeup of soils and encourage salinity or sodicity issues down the line. Closer to river systems, soils typically have higher sand and gravel content which helps to keep soil water moving down the soil profile. Further from river systems, farmers need be aware of the quality of water they are implementing through irrigation, as their soils with higher clay content are more prone to skewing toward excessive salinity and sodicity.   “In our irrigation guide, those heavy clay soils have a very low water intake and very low water movement through that soil profile because of the small pore space. And we are not supposed to move from a flood irrigation system to a sprinkler irrigation system on those soils. But we've been playing around with trying to implement appropriate management systems that will still allow us to convert to a sprinkler and avoid some of those salinity or sodicity problems by maintaining pore space and putting extra water in; especially in the last irrigation period during the year, we try to flush salts out or down that soil profile and keep them lower in the soil profile,” said Cooley. “Well, we had one producer that did not take our advice. He continued to grow continuous corn with tillage. And within a period of less than two years, he actually got to the point where he could not raise a corn crop because the soils were becoming so saline based on his management. So that's the situation that we're trying to avoid when we put sprinkler irrigation systems on these clay soils. We need a perennial system, or we need to try to keep salts pushed down by using a no-till system if annually cropped.”   ______________________________________________ ______________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

Maygen & The Birdwatcher   By Cassidy Spencer   Early in June of 2023, Lynn Betts was doing consulting with the South Dakota Grassland Coalition, developing a public service campaign through the USDA to highlight North America’s native grasslands. Videographer Joe Dickie had crisscrossed the grasslands for years already, collecting footage of the country’s authentic ranching livelihood and the grasslands’ expansive, multifaceted beauty. With all this footage, and an aim to bring attention to the wonder of the grasslands– Betts decided to start seeking the right artist to write a song encapsulating the mission to save the grasslands, to bring the message and the footage together into one piece of art.   Joe Dickie was skeptical. So often music about the landscape, about nature, can ‘dip into cheesy territory, into jingle territory’. Joe didn't want a jingle for the grasslands. He wanted a piece of art that could reflect what he found so stunning and so imperative, after studying this landscape for so many years.   Lynn Betts set out to listen through all the Midwest music acts and groups he could find.    “I believe it was Lynn, who wound up in my inbox, saying that he had listened to all the different Midwest artists trying to find the right voice or the right style for this campaign. That they were looking for music to be written, and would we be interested in writing about the wonder of the grasslands?” says Maygen of Maygen & The Birdwatcher. “And he found the right people, because we sure were up for it. We had just been touring earlier that year through the grasslands and admiring the beauty of everything, so that imagery was fresh for us.”   Maygen & The Birdwatcher is a band led by Maygen Lacey and fellow singer/songwriter Noah Neumann. The band began as a duo between the two in 2017, and they have slowly been building their group, their voice and their repertoire since then.   “Over the past few years, we’ve just been getting our music out to as many places as possible and it's been fun to see kind of where it turns up and who hears it– including Lynn,” says Maygen.   Maygen Lacey grew up listening to 90’s country music that her mom was a fan of. She knew she loved music, and sang in high school, but had extreme stage fright following high school, so she did not perform at all. It wasn’t until after she had kids that Maygen realized that if she didn’t start to face her dream and fear of performing, she never would. She began as a studio vocalist and co-leading her first band, a female-fronted duo called Sparrow’s Rising.    At one of their gigs, Maygen met a guitarist, Noah Neumann. She saw his talent and wanted to expand the band and invited Noah to join as a musician. They soon branched off from there as they realized they both had similar songwriting goals that took them away from the genre they were currently in.   Neumann did not grow up listening to country music– he was raised in a small town north of the Twin Cities and played the contrarian, pushing against country music for a lot of his youth, listening to classic rock and playing in metal bands. Eventually a family friend brought country music back into Noah’s life as an adult and something clicked.    “I started to see it from a different perspective. So, I was bopping around through different projects, and I started to feel like I wanted to have a bit more artistic influence on a project's artistic identity. And I didn’t want to do it alone. And I met Maygen, and the rest is history,” says Neumann.   Their collaboration has only blossomed since then.    “When we started with our first EP, he was only playing guitar and I was writing the lyrics. But over the years our voices have kind of grown together. He started writing for our debut full-length album Moonshine and he is an amazing writer and fantastic melody guy. And has a lovely voice. And all these talents came out of the woodwork through this project,” says Maygen.   “-And Maygen used to not play any guitar and now she does,” adds Noah.   Where Good Things Grow A piece of the perfection regarding Maygen & The Birdwatcher as the choice for this project, is that the band had toured through Montana, through the grasslands, through the Midwest and agricultural landscapes. Fresh on their mind was the beauty and the wonder of this landscape, and the importance of calling attention to it. “It’s easy to not notice it, but agriculture is everywhere. Like Montana, we played a festival, and the festival was just surrounded by farmland. Or we went down to Palisade, CO, which is on the western slope of the Rockies, which is a peach town. They farm peaches. That’s what they're all about. You would never know. And it's one of our favorite places we’ve ever been. So, agriculture is everywhere. The livelihood of it, the history, and the families who do this,” says Noah.   In the lyrics for the song, Noah and Maygen wanted to capture and honor the history of the families who have tended this land so long and how much the land means to them; their livelihood, their community. The song begins with the line “Oh, the wonder” to call the audience’s attention to nature’s amazing capacity for care and regeneration and to not take it for granted– as these farming families have not taken it for granted for all these generations.   “For me a lot of the writing was kind of about how interconnected everything is and how important it is to keep it that way– you need the birds, you need the buffalo, you need all that stuff for the soil to get to do what the soil needs to do to keep life moving along the way that it should the way that it's meant to be,” says Maygen.   Once the song was written Joe, Maygen and Noah went into the Lac Qui Parle grasslands in Southwest Minnesota to film video of the two playing and singing the song. The resulting video footage of Maygen singing and Noah strumming the guitar in the radiant warm late-day light over the prairie, spliced into footage of grassland livelihood that Joe had been collecting for years. This music video went on to win Maygen & The Birdwatcher ‘Music Video of the Year’ at the Midwest Country Music Organization Awards, where they also won ‘Entertainer of the Year’. Maygen & The Birdwatcher In the future, the band aims to release another full album in the upcoming year. Earlier this year they completed a successful Kickstarter to fund their future projects, and recently released their songs ‘Jericho’ and ‘Right Where You Belong’ to streaming platforms, meant as the first of much new music to come from the rising group. In the meantime, their most recent collection is the forthcoming ‘Leap Year’ EP, due out August 2nd.   “Basically we have plans for the next many years, so many songs and so much we’re trying to do. So we’re like, ‘here's this EP,’ while we’re also trying to make the next full-length piece this fall or winter,” says Maygen.   Watch the full video for ‘Where Good Things Grow” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FklZNJWNxcY     To find out more about Maygen and Noah, go to: https://www.maygenandthebirdwatcher.com/ or follow them on Facebook or Instagram. @maygenandthebirdwatcher   To listen to the full interview CLICK HERE   ______________________________________________ ______________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

Lee Briese   By Cassidy Spencer   Dr. Lee Briese is an independent crop consultant in East Central North Dakota, working directly with farmers. He conducts field checks, crop checks and recommendations, and generally refers to himself as a ‘plant doctor,’ “both literally and figuratively. I go out and do the checkups on the field and give the farmer a report and if we need to do anything I make prescriptions for that.”    With a master’s degree in soil science, a doctorate in plant health, and 25 years of this work under his belt, he claims that salinity is one of the standout agricultural issues in the region.    “I would say close to 80-90% of my fields have some salinity affected acres in them.”   Saline Causes   Dr. Briese has witnessed change in cropping systems in North Dakota over the last 25 years and has watched as less saline-tolerant crops have been increasingly employed. In his area he used to see wheat, barley and sunflower as primary crops, all three being quite saline-tolerant. The major crops he’s witnessing in his area now are corn and soybeans, and a fair amount of dry bean, which he distinguishes as some of the weakest crops against salinity. The James River Valley is a semi-arid region, so it receives just enough water to fill up the soils, lakes and rivers and build up high water tables– but the region still witnesses high levels of evaporation.   “These salts as we call them are actually nutrients– they’re calcium, magnesium, sulfates, chlorides – those types of things are the salts we’re talking about with salinity. These are plant nutrients that are naturally in our soils. What happens is when rain falls, these salts dissolve in the water, and if the water moves downhill or through the ecosystem to the edges, or from these wet spots, it'll capillary rise from the outside. So basically it's evaporating. So very much like taking a pot of water and boiling it on the stove till it's done- there will be a salt ring at the bottom, it'll precipitate out. This is what's happening- we have a net movement of water upwards.”   Alongside this shift in crop choice, the region is in a wet cycle. When the region experiences excess moisture above trend histories and simultaneously farmers start using some of the more sensitive crops in a tight rotation, the problem is quickly exaggerated.   “It's an issue of if the plant can get any usable water. It's the same reason they tell you not to drink seawater– it draws moisture out of you. Because there's salts dissolved in the water, the plants have a harder time with getting that water into their system. Now, because it tends to happen fairly slowly, there's a little bit of a tolerance that builds up, kind of like alcohol in humans,” says Briese. “So if the plant has managed to germinate and grow and get started, then it can build up some tolerance to this salinity over time, and if we get a wet spring or a moist season, it actually dilutes the salts, makes it a little more palatable, the plant gets going, and then as things dry out, the plant has a little bit of tolerance, maybe it doesn't die immediately, but it's always stressed. And that stress affects their yield drastically," explains Briese.   “So something I’ll see is that some of my farmers will do something, and then they'll have a better year, and they'll assume that what they did made that year better. And that's one of the first things that I find is a myth. One of the myths is that tillage will make this better. And tillage does not make this better. We’ve been doing tillage for over 200 years– we wouldn't have this salinity issue if that was the solution. What happens is they'll do a spring tillage, they'll do a planting, and then they'll get good moisture and good rain, that rain will dilute the salinity and that crop will grow better than it did the year before, and so it looks like what they did made a difference. But it did not.”   In the area there is a trend also of heightened salinity issues along roadways. Briese explains that the roads in the James River Valley were built in a fairly dry period in the region’s existence, with a few water crossings and culverts but insufficient ditches and drain ways.    “So, then we enter the last 20 years or so, we start getting significant amounts of rain, a lot more water, and the insufficient road drainage has been blocking it and storing it. So the water sits, leeches into the soil, and evaporates from the surrounding areas. It doesn't really evaporate from the road surfaces, but from further out into the field, especially when there's mechanical tillage or any type of work going on or less plant growth in those areas, there's a higher level of evaporation in the field. So we have water seeping into the soil from the road ditches, traveling out into the field and evaporating off the surface. And during that time it's bringing all of those soil salts out to the fields.” Lee Briese Lean Acres   Briese is a proponent of employing a long-term management strategy when confronting saline acres. He’s watched many farmers plow right along with their old techniques, hoping for change in those acres– planting the same annual crops, applying the same inputs, driving their planter through affected areas as if all the soil had uniform needs. Ultimately, Briese wants to communicate that if these acres are consistently worsening, new tactics are called for. For the sake of the land and the soil, but for the sake of business, as well.   “Everything's gotta pull its own weight in any business. What's happening in these areas is that the inputs haven't changed. They're still the seed input, the fertilizer input, the equipment passing over that input; but it's very much like having a hired person on your farm that just doesn't show up to work. So these unproductive areas- they're basically getting paid and they're not returning any yield. I ask farmers how long would it take you to fire somebody that never shows up for work? Doesn't take very long, at max what I've heard has been like a week.”   Yes, you obviously can’t simply ‘fire’ land off your property and ship in a new tract. But you can stop paying it for work it isn’t doing and isn't equipped to do.   “So say your sister calls and says your nephew either learns how to work, or he’s going to end up in juvenile hall. So here's this teenager that she’s going to send to your farm. One of the first questions I ask farmers– do we put him in the planter? Gosh no! There's no way he’d get near that really expensive, important piece of equipment! So what jobs are you going to give this nephew? Picking rocks, driving the wheelbarrow, maybe mowing the lawn– this is the thought process. This unproductive acre doesn't have zero value if you give it different jobs that are appropriate. Fire these saline acres from corn production, soybean production, potentially even wheat and sunflowers if they're bad enough, and give them something else to do. Because otherwise they're going to become full of weeds and pests and that's your juvie hall. So give them something to do. That's where the perennials fit in. That's where the cover crops fit in. As alternative jobs.”   Briese points out that yields go up when farmers stop spending money on zero-acre yields. Though it is an investment to plant and care for young perennials and commit to losing out on possible crops, input costs are cut– “Just take your inputs from $250, $350, whatever it is per acre, and you invest 100 dollars in those acres, and you just paid yourself $200 not to do anything.”   When running a planter through cropland, Briese advises his farmers to lift it up over saline areas, stop disturbing them, and stop applying fertilizer.   “If you've been fertilizing these spots for 6,7,8 years, and haven't gotten a crop on it, your fertilizer’s built up, plus the water’s moving more fertility. I have all kinds of soil tests showing 8-10 times more fertility in those areas than the rest of the field. Ridiculously high amounts and almost even toxic amounts in some situations.”   Planting perennials can help farmers to not get their planters stuck in a saline area. It depends on the year, the weather, but good established native perennials can be quite saline tolerant, especially the switchgrass and wheatgrasses– Briese says the trick is getting them established. All plants, when young, are more susceptible to being impacted by salinity.   “The entire region of the upper great plains that's gone into annual cropping is not using as much water as it used to. So even though corn uses a lot of water, it only really grows for 90-120 days, and in those first 30 days we’re talking about very small plants that really aren't doing a whole lot. So we’re really talking about 60-90 days of water usage. If you have an established perennial, you're getting 200-220-250 days of water use. So that’s more than double, and almost triple, what we can do with corn. A perennial system can also respond to times of high water especially in early spring and late fall, which are two points in time when your corn plant is not doing anything– it's not planted in the spring and it's dead in the fall. So healing this imbalance is largely about water utilization.”   Briese says that after 5-10 years of diluting that saline imbalance and managing that water usage, farmers could maybe transition to a perennial-annual system, employing 2-3 years of annuals.    “So if you look at your cropping system as 5 -7 years of perennials and 1-3 years of annuals, then you could probably do the best of both. But you need to make a change before the salinity gets to the point where nothing will grow. Because again establishing that small crop is the challenge. So I really encourage farmers, if they really want to bring this back to annual crop production– to think about it in a 10-year crop cycle.”   Listen to the full interview at https://www.growingresiliencesd.com/podcasts/episode/259b1fbd/63-crop-consultant-shares-how-to-earn-400-more-dollars-an-acre-on-saline-soils ______________________________________________ ______________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

Fred Provenza By Buz Kloot   On Monday the 15th of July this year (2024), Joe Dickie and I got to talk to Dr. Fred Provenza (Professor Emeritus, Dept. Wildland Resources, Utah State University) from his home in Ennis, Montana as part of our podcast series.  Getting to know Fred in the last two months has been a journey in and of itself and I thought I’d share a few insights with you and hopefully this whets your appetite for when we release the podcast. While I don’t consider myself a prodigious reader, I did find that two books this year profoundly affected the way I viewed the world. The first was I saw Satan Fall like Lightning by René Girard, and the other was Nourishment by Fred Provenza. This is the story of how I first got to read Provenza’s amazing book. For the longest time, I would often hear my friend Michael Hall, formerly an NRCS grazing specialist, say “Fred Provenza said….”  As a guy who was coming to grips with soil health in row crop land, I never bothered to find out who Fred Provenza was.  After I fell in love with the prairie and started to see livestock as one of the answers to restoring degraded land, names outside of my South Dakota contacts like Allan Savory, Stan Parsons, Dallas Mount, Terry McCosker and Fred Provenza started to attract my attention. Since I was only one degree of separation from Provenza, I took a chance and asked Michael if he’d provide a letter of introduction to Fred so we could ask for a podcast interview.  Mike graciously, and eventually did this, sending an email to Fred and copying me in.  Well, Fred’s celebrity to me was on par with Tom Brady or Eric Clapton, so my expectation of a response was low.  But to my great surprise, Fred responded the next day “… Buz, wonderful to meet you. Michael told me many wonderful stories about you. I’m happy to do a podcast with you. I am happy to talk about whatever you consider to be most appropriate for your audience.”  Well, don’t you know, I was both shocked and delighted. This was a couple of months ago in late May, and I thought “hoo boy, better be prepared for this podcast, I don’t want to blow it with the behavioral ecology guru!” To prepare, I ordered his book Nourishment and borrowed the audiobook of the same title from the library – I listened to the audiobook (an abridged version of the book itself) and devoured the book as well.  I expected to find a tome about grazing and shepherding livestock, and I got that in spades, but in such an engaging way – Fred loves stories!  What I didn’t expect was the application of so much of what he learned from foraging behavior and how he applied that to ecology, sociology, human health and even metaphysical musings.  I was amazed at the way Fred weaves such a wonderful story that links humankind’s relationship to soil, water, plants and animals to the spiritual world. It truly just blew my mind. As I read through Nourishment and listened to the audiobook, Fred and I struck up a running email conversation. Once again, I didn’t think a rock star like Fred would have the time to converse with me, but he did.  Next week, I’d like to share a little more about our correspondence that led up to the podcast interview. In the meantime, I’d like to share some links that I explored and that I’d highly recommend: Utah State University: The Web of Life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjUgX91VZpk Grassfed Exchange 2022 'Fred Provenza: Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom'    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKOVsimD5HI 2023 Soil Revolution Conference: Managing Landscapes for Health: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAktpQwf3sY Regenerative Agriculture Podcast: Regenerating Landscapes With Livestock and Diverse Forages: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c7JFx7WyWA Books: Nourishment by Fred Provenza The Art & Science of Shepherding - by Michel Meuret (Editor), Fred Provenza (Editor) ______________________________________________ ______________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

Photo Credit: Joe Dickie By: Buz Kloot Is the art and science of shepherding a lost practice, or can we still learn from it today? In our SoilHealthLabs podcast series, Joe Dickie and I sat down with Dr. Fred Provenza to explore this question in the episode “Tap into the Hidden Wisdom of Livestock to Restore Your Land”. We dive into the skills of shepherds who not only guide their animals but also learn from them, using their knowledge to create a healthy balance between animals and the land. Joe starts by pointing out the difference between a herder and a shepherd. A herder simply directs where animals go, but a shepherd observes and lets the animals choose the plants they need. This method, Fred explains, benefits both the land and the animals. It’s about more than just livestock—it’s about keeping the landscape diverse, which is good for the soil and the plants that the livestock and wildlife depend on. Fred talks about his experiences with French shepherds through his work with Michel Meuret, a French ecologist, animal behaviorist, and nutritionist. These shepherds think about the order in which animals graze, not just what they graze. For example, a shepherd might have the animals eat protein-rich plants first, then move them to graze on tannin-rich oak or birch. This way, the animals use the whole landscape without overgrazing the best spots. Fred explains that shepherds and their flocks learn from each other. “The shepherds are learning from the animals, and then they’re using that learning to work with the animals,” he says. This approach is all about observation and trying things out, much like how farmers and ranchers traditionally learn from the land instead of just from books. It’s a blend of hands-on experience and practical know-how. We also touch on the bigger picture—how modern practices have disconnected us from our food sources. Fred shares how he was invited to speak at the 2024 Old Salt Festival in Montana, a state full of cattle, yet much of the beef consumed there is imported. This disconnect, Fred argues, weakens our community ties and our connection to the land. As we wrap up, Fred highlights the importance of rebuilding these connections. The lessons from shepherds—who learn directly from their animals and the land—can guide us in improving our food systems. This episode encourages us to think about where our food comes from and to value practical knowledge in keeping our ecosystems healthy. Stay tuned for more with Fred in the upcoming episode! Dr. Fred Provenza is professor emeritus of Behavioral Ecology at the Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University. Fred is also the author of three books, including Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach Us about Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom; Foraging Behavior: Managing to Survive in a World of Change; and The Art & Science of Shepherding: Tapping the Wisdom of French Herders - a book he co-authored with ecologist, animal behaviorist, and nutritionist Michel Meuret. In the case that Dr. Provenza may have escaped your attention, we recommend the link below which is a really informative talk given by Dr. Provenza at Utah State University: The Web of Life Event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjUgX91VZpk ______________________________________________ ______________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

By: Buz Kloot This summer (2024), as I began editing video footage from June 2023 (yes, I’m a bit behind), I realized I had my work cut out for me. We conducted interviews with several experts: Scott and Jeff Hamilton (of Hamilton Seed Mix fame), SDSU’s Anthony Bly, NRCS’s Kent Vlieger, Ducks Unlimited’s Bruce Toay and Matt Hubers, and the inimitable Frannie Fritz. The subject was salinity. If you’re driving east River (a very South Dakotan term for those outside the state), you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to see how rising water levels and salinity have impacted farmlands and infrastructure. Large patches of white in croplands during summer or expansive puddles in wet weather are easy to spot. Roads and fences dip into prairie potholes, and it’s not uncommon to see water levels encroaching on old houses and barns. As I sat down to tackle the stories from these experts, I wondered how I would weave them into a coherent narrative. Finding the Story By mid-summer, I discovered a strong story from the interviews with the Hamiltons and Anthony Bly—they seemed to be responding to each other, even though we interviewed them separately. I thought, “Let’s finish this story by the end of August so we can move on to the Kent Vlieger, Cain Creek project, and the new Beadle County project, where we met with Ducks and Frannie Fritz.” Life’s Challenges Well, it’s October 1st as I write this. The Hamilton-Bly story had to be set aside—call it fate, divine providence, or whatever you like. After navigating a family crisis in Africa, dealing with a computer failure and replacement, hosting my daughter and my energetic grandson, and weathering a hurricane, I’m only now starting to tackle the Hamilton-Bly story. I’m not pleased that it has taken me this long, and I’m still not finished, but stepping away has helped me focus on the key points. Hopefully, the resulting video—though delayed—will be more informative and, dare I say, entertaining. Understanding Salinity Over the past year, I’ve begun to understand salinity better through these videos and several podcasts (see list of podcasts below). I’ve also come to appreciate that salinity and its spread are complex. The remedies are intricate as well, but not impossible. Life—filled with family emergencies, visits, and equipment breakdowns—often gets in the way. As a result, addressing those growing saline areas may have to take a back seat, at least for another growing season. The spread of salinity, especially in the Jim River Valley, can be classified as consequential but not urgent. Like my video project, it can be set aside as we navigate life’s unpredictable challenges. Looking Ahead to the Fall: A Time for Reflection and Preparing for Action It seems that Providence has delayed our series on salinity until fall, “when the shadows lengthen and the winter comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of the growing season is over, and our work for the season is done” (with apologies to Cardinal Newman). This fall, if salinity impacts you, I encourage you to take the time to educate yourself on this important issue. I’ll do my best to release the first video before December, and we also have podcasts and written resources available. Your partners in South Dakota—NRCS, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, and Every Acre Counts—are eager to assist you in this journey. To borrow from the tree-planting folks: The best time to address salinity was 20 years ago; the second best time is today. Let’s take action together—strength in unity! Useful Links: Stay tuned to our newsletter for our first feature film on salinity featuring the Hamilton’s Anthony Bly Feature Story by Kurt Lawton: Soil Salinity Management in SD Stockgrowers’s Summer 2024 Magazine Blogs: Conquering Salinity: Matt Hubers' Strategies for Sustainable Agriculture in South Dakota Confronting Soil Salinity: Kent Cooley's Strategies for Sustainable Agriculture Managing Soil Salinity : Dr. Lee Briese's Expert Tips for Sustainable Crop Production Podcasts: 59 Soil Expert on the Origins and Impacts of Saline Soils – a talk with NRVS’s Kent Cooley 61 Agronomist Shares Top Strategies to Transform Saline Soils into Productive Land – a talk with Ducks Unilmited’s Matt Hubers 63 Crop Consultant Shares How to Earn 400 More Dollars an Acre on Saline Soils – a talk with Crop Consultant. Lee Briese ______________________________________________ ______________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

My buddy, Mike Hall, as cowboy as a southern gentleman can be (and I mean   gentle man), sent me a wonderful Christmas card by Jack Sorenson, an artist whose work I wasn't familiar with. I looked Sorensenn up online (linked here) and found his delightful story—he's still making art today!   For my cowboy friends out West River, you're probably thinking, "Kloot, what rock have you been living under these past few years? Haven't you learned anything?" I know; I'm a city boy who fell in love with agriculture at 50. I rose to the role of messenger boy for soil health and regenerative agriculture, a role which, by the way, I cherish.   What struck me about the card Mike sent was how poignant it was, and it reminded me of the reading we had from the Gospel of Luke over Christmas. The passage didn't emphasize kings or wise men, but humble shepherds—those on society's lowest, most despised rung. To these shepherds was revealed the message of the incarnation: hope, freedom, and justice.   The Santa in the picture, kneeling by a fire with his patient horse in the background and his bag of toys nearby, reminded me of those shepherds. There are no flashy red suits, reindeer, or hordes of adoring elves serving hot cocoa while Santa stays warm under a large comforter. No, this is a solitary man, enjoying a cup of coffee (or cocoa?) he made himself. He's on one knee, about to break camp, with children on his mind. I don't see a Santa keeping a "naughty or nice" list here. He's bringing gifts to all children.   This image brought me to thoughts on soil, crops, and rangeland health. I think Mother Nature doesn't keep a naughty or nice list. She teaches her lessons, some of which are hard, but she gives the gifts of sunlight (carbon), water, nitrogen, sulfur, and all the minerals waiting to be released from the soil. Sometimes, we refuse her gifts, but she patiently waits for us to see what she has to offer.   My friend Dan Rasmussen, who talks about changing ranch culture, shows a graph that moves from continuous grazing on the left to high-frequency rotational grazing on the right. This continuum is a line graph with no "naughty or nice" categories and no underlying judgment. People are  where they are.   One of the things I've learned about the soil health community (think SD Soil Health Coalition, SD Grassland Coalition, Ducks Unlimited, NRCS, Every Acre Counts, SD Cattlemen, and the list goes on) is that it's made up of people who will meet you where you are. Their motivation stems from a passion for agriculture and a love for people—a willingness to help families and communities thrive and to accept Mother Nature's gifts.   Which brings me back to Luke's Gospel and the Cowboy. Our internet age has had its blessings and curses, but one blessing is that we've democratized the idea of soil health and regenerative agriculture. It's no longer a secret kept by a few—it's available to all, even those of us who see ourselves as lowly shepherds at the lower ends of society.   So, as we reflect on this Christmas and look forward to the new year, I encourage you to keep Jack Sorenson's image in mind as a reminder: the community has passionate people who will meet you where you are (indeed, who have been where you are), no judgment required, no “naughty” labels. And if you allow them, they can show you how to participate in Mother Nature's gifts of abundance.  Here's wishing you a wonderful New Year! _____________________________________________ _______________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3.Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

By: the Growing Resilience Team I’ve long been a champion of the five principles of soil health — things like keeping the soil covered, minimizing disturbance, maintaining living roots, promoting diversity, and integrating livestock. These ideas have shaped my work and my conversations with farmers across the country. But it wasn’t until I interviewed Clinton Rasmusson out in White River, South Dakota, that the sixth principle — context — really hit home for me. Context means you don’t take a prescription and apply it blindly. It means you read the landscape. You learn its history. You listen to its limitations. And you recognize its possibilities. When Cattle Aren’t Enough I’ve always pictured livestock integration — the fifth principle — as cattle on cornstalks or cattle on cover crops. That’s been the mental model in my mind’s eye. But as I listened to Clinton describe what has happened in his part of the world — the slow, steady march of eastern red cedar across once-open grasslands — I realized that model doesn’t always fit. Eastern red cedar, sometimes called the “Green Glacier,” is swallowing up parts of South Dakota’s prairies. It shades out grass. It hogs water. It fills up pastures with dense, scratchy thickets. And in Clinton’s case, it makes a springtime search for calves in rough country a full-contact sport. Clinton’s words stuck with me: “I was crawling through that crap, trying to tag calves with pissed-off mamas.” This is no place for a cowboy on horseback to manage a hundred cows. This is a place that needs a different tool. Goats Fit the Context Clinton’s tool of choice? Spanish goats. He didn’t start out with a grand vision. Like most good ideas, it grew from experience. A neighbor convinced him to buy ten goats just to try them out. Soon enough, he had 60 head — tough, scrappy animals that thrive on the very plants cattle won’t touch. Cedar. Yucca. Skunkbush sumac. Goats go after all of it. “They strip everything,” Clinton told me. “Stuff you couldn’t walk through — after a week with the goats, I could get in and out no problem.” This is the work of 57 nannies on 15 acres with roughly 1000 cedar trees this spring. Almost every cedar tree had some damage. They stripped branches  from the skunk brush and destroyed every yucca plant. The lightbulb went on for me: this is livestock integration in context. Not every place is cattle country anymore — not after years of cedar encroachment. And if we’re serious about regenerating these landscapes, we need to integrate the right kind of livestock for the job. Sometimes that means cows. Sometimes it means sheep. And sometimes it means goats. Beyond Brush Control — Toward Land Healing Of course, Clinton isn’t just running goats for weed control. He’s also building a business — marketing goats into a growing demand for goat meat, especially among immigrant populations across the Midwest. But what strikes me most is that Clinton is doing something powerful for the land itself. Goats are buying him time — time before fire rips through cedar-choked draws, time before the brush takes over completely, time to heal and restore a landscape that once fed cattle and now feeds trees. And they’re doing it on rough country where machinery can’t reach, where chemical spraying isn’t practical, and where prescribed burning is often risky. It’s a labor-intensive way of working. It takes fencing. It takes dogs. It takes daily checking. But it works. And it works because  it fits the context. What This Means for Me — And Maybe for You For a long time, I resisted adding the sixth principle of soil health — context — to the list. I liked the simplicity of five. But after talking with Clinton, I’ve changed my mind. Context belongs there. And it belongs in our conversations with farmers and ranchers. If you’re farming in corn country, cattle on cover crops might be your best bet. If you’re on prairie that’s been overtaken by cedar and brush, maybe goats — or sheep — are your ticket to healing the land. The principle stays the same: livestock integration. But the practice changes — because the land changes. And if we’re paying attention — really paying attention — we’ll change with it. ______________________________________________ ______________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

By:   the Growing Resilience Team A couple of weeks ago, we shared two posts that lit up our social media channels like never before. The topic? You guessed it: tillage. The first post was a short but controversial video of Dakota Lake Research Farm’s Dr. Dwayne Beck saying: “Grandpa had more organic matter than you do. All tillage tools destroy soil structure. All tillage tools decrease water infiltration… All tillage tools reduce organic matter…” The second was a graphic comparing tillage and no-till side-by-side. We posted these not to divide, but to spark conversation about something we care deeply about: soil stewardship. And boy, did it spark a discussion . Big time. As of May 21, the Beck video has received over 110,000 views, 659 likes , and 73 comments. The no-till vs. tillage image made steady rounds—but when it was shared to the Tillage Kings Facebook group, it truly took off: 81 likes, 99 laughing reactions, over 200 comments, and dozens of farmers weighing in from all corners of the country. We read every comment. And with the help of AI, yes, AI, to analyze the themes and trends in the comments , we sorted through hundreds of responses from more than 130 contributors. Why We’re Genuinely Listening One comment showed up repeatedly from no-till skeptics: “Where’s the peer-reviewed literature?” It’s a fair question. And it’s one we’re taking seriously. We’re now digging into the peer-reviewed literature—not to prove a point, but to bring clarity to a conversation that clearly matters to many of us. Much of that research comes in the form of meta-analyses and long-term field studies , and we’ll be drawing from those sources to try and address the themes raised in the feedback. This isn’t about saving face. It’s about honoring the moment and the people who showed up in it. If we want better stewardship, we need better conversations—rooted in respect, science, and experience. What We Heard The responses weren’t one sided—and that’s what made them so valuable. Here's how the perspectives broke down from our 131 commenters: 41% were clearly skeptical of no-till, citing yield declines, compaction, weed pressure, and doubts about the science. 7% were strongly pro no-till , especially when paired with cover crops, rotation, and systems thinking. 52% , fell into a middle ground , emphasizing flexibility, local context, and practical experience over ideology. From these discussions, eight key themes emerged: No-till can work—but is it at the cost of yield? Not necessarily. Some farmers reported no yield drag, and even yield gains. Both outcomes are real. The common thread? It depends on the soil, the system, and the willingness to adapt. Long-term no-till comes with real challenges. Several farmers described problems like compaction, poor emergence, and increased disease or weed pressure over time—especially in humid or poorly drained soils. Chemical dependency in no-till is a growing concern. Some voiced strong unease about no-till becoming synonymous with “spray-only” systems, especially where cover crops or diversity were missing. Most producers use a “toolbox” approach. Whether it’s strip-till corn, no-till soybeans, or shallow vertical tillage for wheat, many described adapting tillage to match the needs of each crop, season, and year. Context is everything. Commenters emphasized that soil type, rainfall patterns, drainage, equipment, and labor all shape what’s possible. One farmer put it simply: “You’ve got to farm the field you have.” Soil biology and regeneration matter to everyone. Across the spectrum, many expressed a desire to build better soil—not just manage inputs—and credited living roots, cover crops, and diversity as key to long-term productivity. Tillage isn’t evil—it’s a tool. Several folks defended strategic tillage as a necessary and legitimate part of their system, especially to manage residue or address compaction after wet years. Oversimplified messaging creates unnecessary division. Some pushed back against blanket praise of no-till, arguing that slogans like “all tillage is bad” ignore complexity and alienate those who are genuinely trying to do the right thing in tough conditions. What’s your experience? If you’ve got a story, a question, or a challenge to what we’re saying— comment and share. We’re listening. And we’re learning. Because what’s at stake isn’t a farming method. It’s the future of our land. Mind how you go, Buz Kloot & the Growing Resilience Team ______________________________________________ ______________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

By the Growing Resilience Team When we posted a video of Dr. Dwayne Beck explaining how tillage destroys soil structure and reduces infiltration, we expected a little pushback—but not hundreds of comments. What followed was one of our most active conversations yet, with producers from across the region offering both challenges and praise. It confirmed something we already suspected: There’s no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to tillage and yield. So, we did what we always try to do—go to the science. We reviewed two of the largest and most respected global studies ever conducted on no-till and yield. Both are peer-reviewed meta-analyses , which means they don’t rely on just one or two experiments—instead, they combine data from hundreds of field trials , across dozens of crops, climates, and countries. Think of it as the “aggregated wisdom” of years of side-by-side comparisons. Here’s what they found—and how it lines up with what farmers in South Dakota and beyond are already telling us. Study 1: Nature 2015 — “Productivity Limits and Potentials of Conservation Agriculture” This paper analyzed 5,463 yield observations from 610 field studies comparing no-till and conventional tillage across the globe. Published in Nature, one of the highest-impact journals in science, it set the tone for a decade of soil health debate. Headline result? On average, no-till yields were 5.7% lower than tilled systems. But here’s the catch: When no-till was combined with residue retention and crop rotation , the yield gap dropped to 2.5% , and in many cases, disappeared. In rainfed crops in dry areas (aridity index < 0.65, so that’s pretty much all of South Dakota) , no-till with good rotation and cover often outperformed tillage, thanks to better water retention and soil structure. In humid, cool climates, or when no-till was used without rotation or residue retention, yields dropped more significantly. Study 2: Field Crops Research  2015 — “When Does No-Till Yield More?” This second meta-analysis from the same lead author analyzed an even bigger dataset: 6,005 yield comparisons from 678 studies . It focused more closely on which conditions tipped the scales for or against no-till. It confirmed all of the above and added these important takeaways: In dry climates (so, most of South Dakota) , no-till outperformed tillage in 55% of cases —especially when residue was retained and crop rotation was practiced. In wet soils , tillage often helps dry and warm the ground, explaining its popularity in places like Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri . Time matters : No-till yields were often lower in the first 1–2 years—but caught up after 5–10 years in most systems. What This Means for Us on the Ground “Roughly speaking, there’s a ‘yield response line’ that follows the aridity index line of 0.65 , running northeast to southwest through western Minnesota , northwestern Iowa , and into eastern Nebraska and Kansas . West of the line , conditions are drier. No-till often wins here—especially when paired with the full system: rotation, residue, and sometimes livestock. East of the line , wetter soils and colder springs mean that a tillage pass may help get crops in the ground quicker, especially if residue or rotation are lacking. “We Can’t Do It With No-Till Alone” That’s what Dr. Dwayne Beck says at Dakota Lakes Research Farm , where they’ve been pioneering resilient systems for decades. No-till is just one tool. The real power comes from stacking practices: Diverse rotations (especially small grains) Cover crops Soil armor Reduced disturbance Livestock integration Farmers near the Missouri River—on both sides—are showing what this looks like in practice. It lines up with what both the science and the social media feedback we received tells us: no-till is a tool in our toolbox, best used with the other tools! Final Thought: It’s Not Just About Yield Many of you told us why you till. Some said it helped yields. Others said it helped get on the field in time. But still others told us that no-till gave them their time back —less time in the tractor, more time with family, fewer washouts, better infiltration. If that’s part of what stewardship looks like to you—we’re listening. Sources If you have trouble finding these documents online, we will post these two papers on our Free Resources site at https://www.growingresiliencesd.com/free-resources   Pittelkow CM, Liang X, Linquist BA, et al. Productivity limits and potentials of the principles of conservation agriculture. Nature . 2015;517:365–368. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13809   Pittelkow CM, Linquist BA, Lundy ME, et al. When does no-till yield more? A global meta-analysis. Field Crops Research . 2015;183:156–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2015.07.020 ______________________________________________ ______________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

By Buz Kloot In late April, Joe Dickie and I traveled up to South Dakota, chasing a spring that felt just out of reach. Our first stop was with Dawn Butzer, and if there’s a better way to start a trip, I don’t know it. Dawn grew up with livestock in her blood—cattle were simply part of life. But after attending a South Dakota Grasslands Grazing School, something shifted. What had always been passion became purpose. She and her husband made the bold decision to buy cropland they had once leased and restore it to native prairie. It wasn't an easy path. Dawn shared how she had wrestled through the bidding process, how deeply personal the decision had been. "I fasted for three days so that somehow we could buy this land," she said. "I didn’t want it just to stay cropland. I wanted it to become something more." When they finally got it, it felt like more than a purchase. It felt like an answer. On Good Friday this year, they planted their first field back to prairie. As we walked the field with her, we dropped to our knees, scratching through the grain drill furrows for signs of life. And there it was—the thin white radicles of oats pushing through the black soil, and finer still, the threadlike beginnings of native grasses taking hold. Dawn smiled through tears and said, "Every seed that grows is a miracle." You could see it in her face—the mixture of awe, gratitude, and hope woven into every word. The seed mix she planted—designed with help from Pete Bauman and NRCS conservationist Jay Hermann—was carefully built for biodiversity and resilience. More than twenty-five native species were included, among them big bluestem, sideoats grama, switchgrass, and little bluestem, anchored alongside vibrant forbs like purple prairie clover, eastern purple coneflower, and black-eyed Susan. This wasn’t a quick cover crop. This was a prairie-in-the-making, a habitat for grazing, wildlife, and soil restoration. As we stood there, Dawn said, "You have to trust the process you can’t always see. It’s like faith—you believe in the promise before you see the harvest." Looking out across the rough new field, she added, "When I walk out here now, I don’t see crops—I see a future." It’s easy to be cynical about agriculture today. Markets go up and down. Margins tighten. But standing there with Dawn, watching those first green shoots push against the prairie winds, I realized that hope still grows wild and strong in South Dakota. Dawn Butzer isn't just planting seeds. She's planting a story—and it's just beginning. And I can't wait to go back. Download Dawn Butzer’s full NRCS-approved seeding plan (PDF) ____________________________________________________________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

Please note: If   any of the references below   are unavailable, please   let us know, and we can access them through our university library. In recent weeks, we've delved deep into the peer-reviewed literature to understand better the complex relationship between no-till agriculture and chemical inputs like herbicides, pesticides, and synthetic fertilizers. This topic has repeatedly come up in online discussions, and we were genuinely surprised to see how, for many, no-till has become synonymous with increased chemical spraying. Either way, here’s what we do know: this topic deserves more than a quick soundbite. We aim to promote stewardship, not dogma, which means being honest about what the data says and what it doesn’t. Herbicide Use in No-Till Systems No-till farming generally reduces the need for mechanical weed control, but often increases reliance on herbicides. According to a 2025 Friends of the Earth report, 93% of U.S. no-till corn and soybean acres  rely on synthetic herbicides, contributing to 33% of all pesticide use nationally ( Friends of the Earth, 2025 ). This reliance on chemicals is not without consequence, and like it or not, our community can’t ignore these numbers. As Beyond Pesticides notes, herbicide residues from no-till systems have been detected in nearby water bodies, raising red flags for ecological and public health ( Beyond Pesticides, 2021 ). While some organic systems advocate for strategic tillage, institutions like the Rodale Institute demonstrate that systems built on cover crops and crop diversity can outperform conventional no-till in terms of soil carbon, microbial life, and resilience ( Rodale Institute, 2023 ). However, it's important to recognize that some sources use the data to support a strongly ideological viewpoint. Reports like those from Friends of the Earth and Beyond Pesticides often use the data to advocate for a shift to fully organic systems. While we admire the long-term goals of organic agriculture, we also believe that a more balanced view is needed for our audience, that is large-scale row crop farmers on the Great Plains. When used judiciously and as part of a broader system of soil stewardship, chemicals may have a smaller environmental footprint than the soil disturbance and erosion associated with conventional tillage, as Dr. Dwayne Beck has said, tillage—especially when repeated and deep—is a “catastrophic event” for soil. Pesticide and Fertilizer Dynamics While no-till practices reduce erosion and can decrease runoff of soil-bound chemicals, pesticide runoff is not always reduced. A meta-analysis by Elias et al. (2018) found that pesticide runoff depends more on the chemical's properties and rainfall timing than tillage per se. “Overall, the concentration and load of pesticides were greater in runoff from NT fields, especially pesticides with high solubility and low affinity for solids. Thus, NT farming affects soil properties that control pesticide retention and interactions with soils, and ultimately their mobility in the environment.”   ( Elias et al., 2018 ). The study looked primarily at conventional no-till systems without incorporating additional soil health practices like cover crops or rotation. Similarly, fertilizer use remains high in many no-till systems. Friends of the Earth reports that 92% of no-till corn acres in the U.S. use synthetic nitrogen at an average of 150 pounds per acre. This undercuts the notion that no-till alone  guarantees  a lower-input system. The Power of Integrated Approaches Here’s where more hopeful research offers better insights. At the Dakota Lakes Research Farm, Dr. Dwayne Beck has emphasized that “no-till alone won’t get us there.” Instead, he and cooperating farmers focus on full systems: diverse rotations (especially with small grains), living roots, soil armor, cover crops, and livestock integration. Combined with minimal disturbance, these practices can dramatically reduce the need for synthetic inputs and improve long-term soil health. Similarly, Dr. Jonathan Lundgren’s work at Ecdysis Foundation shows that regenerative farms—those integrating soil health principles—can significantly lower insecticide and herbicide use while maintaining or even improving profitability and ecological function. A long-term study at Iowa State's Marsden Farm ( Nguyen 2016 ) found that diversified rotations with reduced chemical inputs not only maintained yields but also improved soil health and reduced weed pressure ( Wired, 2012 ). So, What Should We Make of This? No-till alone isn’t a silver bullet. When practiced in isolation, it can create new dependencies on synthetic inputs. But when integrated into a full soil health system, no-till can reduce labor, improve soil structure, and, with the right practices , begin to reduce chemical reliance too. While we appreciate   the genuinely valid concerns about herbicide use in no-till, focusing only on chemical impacts ignores the very real damage caused by tillage, especially erosion, nutrient loss, and particulate phosphorus runoff into water bodies. If our goal is stewardship, we must weigh both sides of the scale. We’ll continue exploring the complex realities of tillage, inputs, and soil health in the coming weeks. For now, we hope this blog provides a clearer, more honest look at the tradeoffs—and opportunities—in today’s no-till systems. References: Friends of the Earth. Pesticide-Intensive No-Till Agriculture: A Report on Environmental and Health Risks. 2025. Available from: https://foe.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Report_No-Till_Report.pdf Beyond Pesticides. Herbicide Use in "Regenerative" No-Till Agriculture Contaminates Water Bodies. 2021. Available from: https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2021/02/herbicide-use-in-regenerative-no-till-contaminates-waterbodies Elias EM. Pesticide Runoff in No-Till Systems: A Meta-Analysis. Indiana University ScholarWorks. 2018. Available from: https://scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu/bitstream/1805/17406/1/Elias_2018_meta-analysis.pdf Nguyen H. Reducing herbicide use through cropping system diversification: A case study at the Iowa State University Marsden Farm, and some recommendations for the Mekong Delta of Vietnam [master's thesis]. Ames, IA: Iowa State University; 2016. Available from: https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/entities/publication/3fc0e87c-7466-4973-b3e2-910caf387735 Rodale Institute. New Report Identifies Toxic Impact of No-Till Agriculture. 2023. Available from: https://rodaleinstitute.org/blog/new-report-identifies-toxic-impact-of-no-till-agriculture-inaccurately-referred-to-as-regenerative Keim B. Big, Smart, Green and Made in Iowa. WIRED. 2012. Available from: https://www.wired.com/2012/10/big-smart-green-farming Ecdysis Foundation. Research Highlights and Impact. 2023. Available from: https://www.ecdysis.bio/research ______________________________________________ ______________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com